AP News in Brief at 6:04 p.m. EDT

Trump administration attempting to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey again

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is attempting to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey for what it calls disclosing classified information, employing the unusual maneuver of bypassing a grand jury — a move Comey’s lawyers say makes the case legally invalid.

The allegations from the Justice Department came in documents unsealed Monday in federal court in Washington.

It would be the third criminal case that the Justice Department has brought against the longtime critic and foe of President Donald Trump since the Republican president’s return to the White House last year.

___

Anthropic files for potentially the biggest IPO ever as CEO warns of risk to humanity from AI

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Artificial intelligence giant Anthropic filed paperwork Monday for what could be the biggest initial public offering of stock ever, even as its top executive warns that advanced AI could pose an existential threat to humanity.

The filing sets up the San Francisco company for a Wall Street debut next month, potentially eclipsing the record $86 billion raised by SpaceX in its initial public offering in June. An Anthropic IPO would also put the company ahead of OpenAI in going public, setting the stage for a pair of blockbuster stock debuts by rival AI developers.

An IPO could give Anthropic enormous resources to accelerate its expansion. The amount the company ultimately raises remains uncertain, as do its final valuation and offering price. But even at lower estimates, it would turn the five-year-old startup into one of the world’s most valuable companies, potentially adding billions of dollars to the fortunes of CEO Dario Amodei and his sister and co-founder, Daniela.

The 335-page filing showed Anthropic’s revenue is growing rapidly, reaching more than $16 billion in the first half of the year — 14 times its revenue from the same period last year. But like many other tech companies going public, the company behind the Claude chatbot has yet to turn a profit.

Despite the losses, Anthropic, valued earlier this year at $965 billion by private investors, is reportedly set to see that value rise to $1.5 trillion or possibly $2 trillion, although its final valuation has not been established. At $1.5 trillion, Anthropic would rank among the world’s most valuable public companies, alongside Tesla.

___

Lula mobilized millions to win Brazil’s election, while Bolsonaro contests loss and Trump cries foul

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ’s comeback to win Brazil’s presidential runoff Sunday is facing its first hurdle as his competitor, Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, attempts to mount an organized opposition to the results.

Lula, who convinced an extra 10.4 million voters to support him in the runoff, is expected to take office on Jan. 5, 2027, for his fourth non-consecutive term. He will serve as a counterweight in a region where leaders are shifting to the right and aligning with U.S. President Donald Trump. Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, promised to cozy up to the Trump administration.

President Donald Trump suggested on Monday, without providing evidence, that Lula’s reelection was “rigged.”

“Elections have to be indisputable and it looked very bad to me,” Trump told reporters before flying to Mississippi for a rally. He added, “I thought it had a very bad look, the way it was tabulated.”

Trump also said: “It looked like another rigged election, frankly.”

___

Trump heads to Mississippi for a midterm rally, and the Democrat he wants defeated is going, too

CORINTH, Miss. (AP) — President Donald Trump heads Monday to Mississippi, as he continues a closing midterm campaign blitz that highlights Republicans’ challenges ahead of an election that could drastically shift power in Washington and statehouses across the country.

The Democratic Senate candidate Trump wants to help defeat, Scott Colom, said he’s going to the president’s rally site, too — creating the rare spectacle of Trump’s staunchest supporters interacting directly with one of the very figures the president surely will denigrate onstage later.

“I’m going to ask that voter, those voters, what matters to them, because they actually deserve a senator that will listen to them, that actually cares about what they think, actually cares about what they’re going through,” Colom said ahead of the president’s arrival for the evening event with Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith.

Mississippi, among the nation’s most reliably Republican states, is not where the GOP envisioned needing a late-October stop from the president. But Hyde-Smith faces a stiff challenge from Colom, one of many Democratic underdogs that have managed to expand the House and Senate battleground maps because of widespread voter discontent over inflation, the Iran war and other aspects of Trump’s second presidency.

Colom said the dynamics make it easy for him to make a case to Trump rallygoers that Hyde-Smith is “not gonna change one single thing” that’s making voters’ lives harder.

___

France promises to replace its university admissions after riots and thousands of arrests

PARIS (AP) — France’s government pledged Monday to replace its national online university admissions platform, seeking to quell student anger after weeks of often violent mass protests over education and living costs.

Higher Education Minister Philippe Baptiste announced “substantial change” to the platform next year, before its replacement in 2028.

Ministers also pledged up to 4 billion euros ($4.5 billion) in loans for school renovations, alongside smaller classes, more teaching and higher education posts and increased student grants.

The concessions target the school grievances that helped ignite the unrest.

But the movement has widened to include workers demanding relief from rising living costs, making the government’s task tougher than simply resolving a dispute over university admissions.

___

Man serving a life sentence for murder slips through a fence and escapes a Tennessee prison

TIPTONVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A man serving a life sentence for killing his co-worker four years ago has escaped from a prison in northwest Tennessee by slipping through a fence, authorities said.

Officials realized Jacob Morley, 28, was unaccounted for around 11:30 p.m. Sunday at the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville, the Tennessee Department of Correction said in a statement.

Investigators looked at security cameras and saw Morley escaped while wearing his prison uniform, officials said. They did not release any other details, including how Morley got through the fence.

Prison officials offered a reward of up to $2,500 for Morley’s arrest. They said law enforcement throughout the area has searched buildings and other structures near the prison about 90 miles (145 kilometers) north of Memphis in an isolated, rural area of flat land tucked near a bend in the Mississippi River near Missouri.

Morley is 5-foot-11 (1.8 meters) and 240 pounds (109 kilograms). He has brown hair and green eyes.

___

Netanyahu’s legacy is on the line as Israelis vote in the first elections since the Oct. 7 attack

JERUSALEM (AP) — When Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, it looked like Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ’s days in office were numbered.

With the country overwhelmed by grief and anger after the deadliest security breakdown in its history, his resignation seemed like a matter of time.

But the divisive veteran Israeli leader has scratched, scraped and literally battled his way back during a stormy three-year period of nonstop domestic crises and wars across the region. Confounding his critics, he now finds himself in a tight race for reelection on Tuesday.

Netanyahu has been the country’s most dominant politician for nearly two decades, and his legacy is on the line. A poor showing could end the 77-year-old’s lengthy career on a bitter note and open the door to a new era in Israeli politics. A victory would cement his image as the ultimate political survivor.

Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, a onetime ally turned rival of Netanyahu, said there has never been so much at stake — from national security to the future of Israel’s democratic institutions and its standing in the world. After a series of wars that have destabilized the region and jolted the global economy, the world is watching closely.

___

Flood warning lingers in Four Corners as soaked towns face sewage-tainted waters. 1 death reported

Parts of the Southwest’s Four Corners region remained under a flood warning Monday as some saturated neighborhoods began cleaning up, assessing damage and watching out for water that could be contaminated with chemicals and raw sewage.

Flooding caused by excessive rainfall happened Monday along the San Juan River in parts of the Four Corners region, the meeting point of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico. The area has experienced unusually heavy rain since Wednesday that caused rivers to surge, flooding homes and forcing water rescues. Storms led to a tornado that touched down in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Saturday night.

One flooding-related death was reported in Santa Fe on Saturday during a water rescue of a family that had attempted to cross a flooded arroyo in their vehicle, the county sheriff’s office said. A father and child were able to get onto land, but a female passenger was swept away by the current and was found dead a mile away, the office said.

By Monday morning, the San Juan River was 1 1/2 feet (45.7 centimeters) above the flood stage of 23 feet (7 meters), the National Weather Service said. It was expected to crest to 31 feet (9.4 meters) later Monday, then fall below flood stage by Tuesday morning.

This compares to Sept. 10, 1927, when the river crested at 32 feet (9.7 meters), the weather service said.

___

Quirky Tropicana Field isn’t a pretty ballpark, but the Rays love their home

With its concrete exterior, massive, sloping dome and cavernous indoor atmosphere, Tropicana Field possesses little of the aesthetic beauty and charm associated with baseball’s most celebrated stadiums.

But the Tampa Bay Rays love their quirky ballpark, especially after being forced out for a season because of destruction from Hurricane Milton.

A sellout crowd of more than 40,000 towel-waving, cowbell-ringing fans will welcome the Rays back for Game 3 of the World Series on Monday night after a pair of gut-wrenching, one-run losses in Milwaukee.

The Brewers lead 2-0 and are two wins away from the franchise’s first World Series title. The Rays need to win four of five games to secure their first championship in their 29th season.

When Milton swept through downtown St. Petersburg on Oct. 9, 2024, shredding the roof and causing extensive damage to the Trop, there were concerns the Rays would never play again at the only place they had called home since the franchise’s debut in 1998.

___

Walter Koenig, Ensign Chekov on the original ‘Star Trek’ series, dies at 90

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Actor Walter Koenig, who played Ensign Pavel Chekov, the youthful Russian navigator on the “ Star Trek ” television series and several movies, has died. He was 90.

Koenig died Monday at his home in the North Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, talent agent Zachery McGinnis said in a statement.

In “Star Trek,” Ensign Chekov was the sole Communist-bloc member of the spaceship Enterprise bridge staff. His friendly, supportive presence showed how the rival nations (in the far-off future in which the show was set) were capable of working together.

Speaking Russian-accented English, Chekov embodied stereotypical Russian personality traits, including fierce pride, love of poetry and blind loyalty.

“Star Trek” ran on NBC from 1966 to 1969 and has had an almost unprecedented afterlife as fans, or Trekkies, kept interest in the show alive.